Siyabonga Sithole
The DA’s spokesperson for trade and industry, Mat Cuthbert, says the party welcomes the preservation order made by the Special Tribunal and the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) made against former chairperson of the National Lotteries Commission (NLC), Alfred Nevhutanda.
The freezing of assets of the former chairperson sought by the SIU was made during a secret virtual sitting of the Special Tribunal headed by Judge Soma Naidoo on June 15.
Judge Naidoo also instructed the SIU to initiate civil proceedings against Nevhutanda for his role in “the disgorgement of secret profits improperly earned” during his tenure as board chairperson.
The order has since frozen assets belonging to the former chairperson including the R27 million luxury property as well as furniture and other belongings including Vhutanda Investments, a private company that owns the property under Nevhutanda’s sole directorship.
The DA says the recent preservation order by the Special Tribunal was welcomed after the party called for the order to be instituted against Nevhutanda, as early as March this year.
Cuthbert says the preservation order follows a report by GroundUp revealing that the former chairperson had used money meant for charity and disadvantaged communities, adding that the funding in excess of R100m was siphoned from NLC at the expense of a rehabilitation centre, an old age home, and the building of athletics tracks after five NGOs were hijacked to further the ends of corruption.
Cuthbert accused both the ANC and Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel of looking the other way when incidents of corruption were happening during Nevhutanda’s tenure as board chairperson.
“We are encouraged that the wheels of justice are starting to turn against those who have stolen money from the elderly, the sick and marginalised communities. We will not rest until these criminals are behind bars,” Cuthbert said.